A/N: Hello everyone! This is day.... 6? I think? Of consecutive updates!! WHooO!! And Day 2 (3?) of me actually having a tiktok account. Already got 60 people following me, for some reason (do they not have a life?). I also made an e-mail specifically for fanart and the like!! It's [email protected] —fairly simple, right? 

Someone has also requested a physical mailing port, so I've made a PO box (rest assured, I am an adult and can make responsible decisions). So if there's something you want to send, let me know and I'll send you the PO box number thing, k?

So we finally hit the U.A. Exams in Viridian, right after Swan Dive, too~ And I CAN'T BELIEVE all the amazing fanart I've gotten for Swan Dive. You guys are incredible. I can't wait to post it on the next SD chapter! :D 

Also. Why is demon Aizawa/dragon Aizawa not a thing? Like, I was in my Aizawa Cosplay and put on my black dragon wings and horns and was like, "Damn. This should be a popular AU." but it isn't. Come on, guys. Imagine it! Aizawa+fangs+wings+horns. Boom. Instantly puts him on Sebastian's field. think about it. *Already itching to write a fic with this*

Another thing! I feel the need to announce that this is day 3 of me sustaining myself completely off of smoothies and frosted mini wheat cereal (dry). I feel like this is not how I should eat. But I'm too lazy to go downstairs and microwave myself food right now. I'd rather write. *Stares at cup of ramen I snatched up at Walmart the other day* There's that, too....

Please stay safe out there with Corona. WASH. THOSE. HANDS. All the damn time. I'm serious—I had a customer today who just lost her niece and husband in the span of a week. I want everyone to be safe, okay? I love you all. <3

~~~˚~~~

Aizawa Shouta sighed tiredly as he took his place in the examiner room at U.A. He didn't exactly agree with the hour that the exam was held at, but he supposed that was only because he didn't get off shift until 4:30 that same morning.

He smirked as he pulled out his phone, clicking into the group chat.

LetMeSleep: I'm fucking tired, and it's all your fault, Viridian.

ViridianChaos: Nope~ It's your fault, too. You didn't have to sit and talk to me. Besides—you're the one who brought caffeine.

DetectiveHolmes: Another late night with no coffee?

ViridianChaos: I can hear your amusement from here, Masa. And I just said there was caffeine—obviously, that'd be coffee. So there. :P

DetectiveHolmes: I keep telling you not to call me by my given name, let alone a butchered form of it!

Tsuragamae: And you aren't used to this by now?

ViridianChaos: How about Fury then? Like that old character from the Marvel movies? He's pretty kickass.

ViridianChaos changed DetectiveHolmes's username to Fury.

Fury: Change it back.

ViridianChaos: Whoops! Gtg! I've got some shit to do. Text you later~! And have fun at the U.A. Entrance Exams, Eraser~! I think you'll be pretty impressed with this year's batch!

LetMeSleep: You've been watching them?

ViridianChaos: I may have seen one or two of them use a quirk here or there. ;) Hope you manage to keep some of your class this year!

LetMeSleep: I'm going to regret getting up this morning, aren't I?

Fury: Don't you always?

Shouta sighed as he pocketed his phone; ignoring the questioning look that Nemuri was sending him.

"Texting your partner again?" She smirked, amused.

"He's not my..." Shouta sighed. Technically, he supposed Viridian was his partner.

"Keep telling yourself that."

Personal feelings aside, Shouta couldn't shake the feeling that Viridian was someone that he should keep an eye on. The past almost-year that he'd been interacting with the vigilante had made him actually like him. The fact that the vigilante had once taken a goddamned bullet for him didn't hurt the trust he was fostering with the mysterious man, either. And he still worried about his—friend? Were they friends?—because the guy never seemed to go to a fucking hospital, either. Shouta had half a mind to make him just take the stupid Hero License Exam and get him certified so he wouldn't have an excuse about going to the stupid hospital.

"Sooo? What do ya think of the examinees this year?" Nemuri asked as she slipped an arm around his shoulders, startling him out of his thoughts.

"I don't know, the exam is only just starting." Shouta replied as his husband's voice filtered across the speakers.

"GO!"

He noted that only one examinee in Battle Center B bothered to move. It was a kid with green fluffy hair and a hoodie. He also held... "Did he get that approved?" Shouta pointed to the sword that the kid wielded.

"Hm?" Nezu looked up at the screen. "Oh, yes. Examinee 2234, Midoriya Izuku. He sent in the request for a few items a couple of months ago. I saw no problem with it, so I agreed."

"Items? Other than the sword?" Cementoss asked, watching as the kid tore through a three pointer brutally. Damn, he actually knows how to wield that. Shouta thought in disbelief.

"Yes, though he only asked for three things." Nezu grinned. "His sword." The kid shoved another examinee out of the way as he blocked an attack that would've seriously injured the other kid. "A first-aid kit." Nezu continued as the kid helped another examinee who'd gotten a rather nasty cut on his arm. He wrapped the wound with the kind of fast diligence that only came from field experience. And a lot of it. Who the hell is this kid? "And a cell phone."

"A cell phone?!" Snipe asked, incredulously. Nezu nodded.

"I'm quite interested to see what he's planning, to be honest."

"What're his points at so far?" Midnight asked.

"37." Cementoss stated. "He's doing a fantastic job, but in helping the other examinees, he's hindered his villain points. He's regaining them in rescue points, though."

"I'm somewhat worried to see an examinee with that much medical experience." Thirteen admitted. "It's unnerving to watch him act like the buildings blowing up around him is normal. Did you notice?"

"I did." Shouta nodded. Something was off about this kid. Did he survive a villain attack or something? No, that would make sense if the loud sounds were inducing more traumatic reactions... he seemed almost like a soldier, used to chaos and havoc around him. Even pros wouldn't be quite that calm; though Shouta imagined that it was possible that the kid just felt safer knowing it was an exam...

"Let's see how everyone reacts to this, then." Nezu let out a feral grin as he pressed the Big Red Button™ to release the Zero Pointers.

He expected the kid to freeze. To run like everyone else (no matter how disappointed Shouta and the other teachers were when everyone ran). But to their shock, he got up and ran towards the massive killer robot without a hint of hesitation. Almost like he was waiting for it.

"Look... there's a girl trapped under the rubble." Cementoss pointed out, and Midnight radioed Hizashi to make sure that the hero was on standby, ready to rescue her if need be.

"What's that Midoriya kid doing?" Thirteen asked, watching as he jumped on top of an active One Pointer. He then pried off the panel on the back of the robot and pulled out his phone. He messed around with something the camera couldn't see before the smaller robot stopped moving. He grinned, and started typing in haste.

A moment later, every robot in Battle Center B shut down—including the Zero Pointer.

The room was silent, the sound of someone dropping their pen sounded like a grenade. "D-did something happen? Was that a glitch?" Midnight stuttered.

"I don't believe it..." Nezu's eyes were wide and gleaming with excitement. "He hacked the robots! He broke the exam! With a cell phone!" He started laughing maniacally.

"Y-you don't seriously mean..." Vlad King looked pale as he realized that Nezu was interested and excited by this kid.

"No way..." All Might's eyes were wide as he choked on his own saliva. "That can't be the same boy...?"

"You know him, All Might?" Shouta's eyes narrowed.

"No, I met him once. I remember him vaguely... He's Quirkless." His words sent the room into murmurs.

"All the more reason." Nezu grinned. "Aizawa, I hope you'll train this boy properly. He'll be joining you in your class this year."

Shouta bit back a groan. Great. Just what I need—a Problem Child.

"Yes sir." Because what else was he supposed to say to his boss? Vlad King sent him a pitying look.

For a moment, he wondered if this Quirkless boy was related in any way to the Quirkless vigilante, but quickly brushed off the thought. There were plenty of Quirkless people in the older generations... it was highly unusual for a child to be born Quirkless in this day and age—and he'd surely need to keep an eye out for any lasting trauma from a rough childhood due to that—but there were plenty more Quirkless people in Viridian's age group.

Besides. Tsukauchi had assured him that the man had spoken the truth when asked about his reasonings for being a vigilante. And he'd stated that he'd failed every High School Hero Exam he'd taken. Which meant that he was a fully-grown man. Not a fifteen-year-old boy.

No. There was no possible way that Viridian and Midoriya Izuku could be the same person. Shouta took a sip of his coffee, and the thought wouldn't pop back into his head for weeks to come.

Hi!Linechanhere!hopeeveryone'sstayingsafeandsound!ItendtotrytopopupwhentheAuthor'sactuallytyping,now.Oof.

Izuku was a wreck. It'd been nearly two weeks since the exams, and he had no idea if he passed or not. Shouta—his Shouta—had told him about the Rescue Points, so he'd made sure to help as many people as possible. Logically, with the 40-something Villain Points he'd managed to get, plus the Rescue Points, he was probably going to pass.

But what if they knocked off points for Quirklessness? Or recklessness? Or hacking the robots?! He hadn't even thought about being disqualified for it! So here he was, stalking his mother's house to steal his U.A. letter before she came out to snatch it.

Izuku obviously couldn't tell them to send his mail to the dump, now could he? And though Keigo had offered to let him use his address, the fact that a Quirkless 15-year-old knew the #3 Hero well enough to use his private address would bring up more questions than he'd like to answer. Besides—his mother and he shared the same last name. They wouldn't even look twice at the address.

Beyond that, there was a tiny, bitter part of him that really didn't care if All For One targeted Inko.

He tensed as he saw a thick heavy envelope mixed in with the bills. He carefully replaced the rest of his mo—Inko's mail, and quickly made his way back home.

He'd also been unable to meet up with GayAFanimeBoi's brother, though he had caught sight of spiky red hair in the crowd at some point. He'd honestly been far too worried about everything to process much.

And fuck, seeing Hiz—Present Mic up on that stage was hard. Really fucking hard. It took every ounce of self-control he had not to cry upon seeing him, or rush up there and assure himself that he was okay. He swallowed down his unbearably strong urge to apologize, but he must've made some kind of sound because the blue-haired kid called him out on being disruptive.

Luckily, Izuku had managed to pull himself together by that point, so the spotlight illuminating him hadn't reflected off half-formed tears. Though he was able to see the flash of concern in Present Mic's face—he knew that the man had seen something and had immediately called the attention back to himself. Izuku was grateful.

He hadn't said anything to the blue-haired kid (wasn't he a member of the Iida family?) because he couldn't let anything hinder his chances of getting into U.A. He had to pass—the literal fate of the world depended on it.

He shook his head to dispel the thoughts. The Exam was over, and if all went according to plan, then he'd just have to get used to seeing Hizashi and everyone all over again.

Once he was settled in his camper, he sat down on his ratty futon and carefully opened the envelope. Keigo was out on patrol right now, so Izuku was blessedly alone. A thick, heavy disk fell to the floor with a thump and a projection appeared.

"I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!" All Might's smiling face beamed down at Izuku, and he couldn't help but scowl. Sure, he didn't necessarily hate the Symbol of Peace, but he didn't like the man, either. Experience has taught him the bitter truth to All Might's words on the rooftop that day. He was no longer angry with him for what he'd said, but he was still hurt and a little bitter for it. Izuku was allowed to feel hurt for having his dreams crushed by his hero, after all. "You managed to get 44 Villain Points in the exam! Well done, my boy!"

"Not your boy." Izuku glared half-heartedly, deciding to ignore the fact that this was a projection.

"Unfortunately, this in and of itself is not enough to pass." Izuku's heart stuttered, and for one horrific moment, he feared he'd blown everything. If he hadn't passed, then his next best bet was to take Keigo and Aizawa up on their offers of a sponsorship. He'd have to reveal his identity, but— "However!" His attention snapped back to the projection. "You were also awarded Rescue Points during the exam! And you, Midoriya Izuku, managed to gain an astonishing 88 Rescue Points! Amazing! Not only that, but you managed to do something incredible! Nobody has ever managed to hack the robots before, and Principal Nezu is keen on meeting you himself."

He stared at the projection. From what Izuku had heard of the mouse-rat-bear-dog-thing that was the Principal of U.A., he wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not. Shouta seemed to be rather terrified of the little guy.

"Congratulations! 132 Points puts you at the top of the list! Not only that, but you've broken the record! Welcome, Midoriya-shounen, to your Hero Academia!"

The projection shut off, and Izuku sighed in relief. I made it. It took him several minutes of staring at the ceiling of his makeshift home before he found himself crying and laughing hysterically.

The first time he'd tried the exam, he'd failed miserably. Not a single point—villain or rescue. He'd subsequently failed every hero school entrance exam he'd taken, before settling for an academic school instead. And while his choice was by no means a shitty school, it still wasn't heroics.

Eventually, he went to a trade school for technology, hoping to at least make support weapons for heroes. He found that he had a knack for hacking and technology, and pursued that career, eventually gaining a PhD in computer science (hence how he hacked the robots so easily). However, he soon became restless and making support gear and helping out heroes by hacking information for them just wasn't enough. Even if his support gear was known as some of the best available—right up there with Hatsume Industries'.

He needed to be out there. Helping people. Really helping them. So he took up his proverbial cape and cowl and became a vigilante. He really sucked at first, but luckily there'd been much more... sinister things to keep the attention of the heroes and police occupied until he found his rhythm.

He'd been a (very well-known and semi-respected) vigilante for six years before the apocalypse hit. Before Shigaraki gained the power of All for One and destroyed everything... Releasing the feral Nomu... leveling cities and entire nations with the flick of a wrist... killing All Might.

Izuku shook his head, dispelling his memories as he held the very real Acceptance Letter to the U.A. Heroics Course.

"It's like a dream. Maybe I actually did die?" He shifted, wincing as he accidentally whacked his funny bone off the side of the table. "Ow. Most dreams don't have pain... only flashbacks, memories and nightmares. So... Not a dream?" He tilted his head, laughing. "Not that my dreams would ever be this kind."

He shook his head. He needed to rest. He'd been too worried about his letter to really do much of that lately, and he could feel his eyes burning with the need for sleep.

He picked up the photo of his real family. He kept it face-down so Keigo wouldn't see it by accident, because it'd bring up a lot of uncomfortable questions.

I really did it. Shouta... Hizashi... Nemuri... please watch over me... I promise you, I'll do everything I can to make this right.

The stars twinkled down at him.

LineKunoverhere!Author-Chanhastheweekendofffrombothjobs~Whoooo!!Howexciting!Goingtogetmorewritingdone,Ihope.Also,Author-chanhasatiktok.:)It'saddictive.

{Cult of Viridian Chat}

[GayAFanimeBoi is Online]

GayAFanimeBoi: Guys!! My brother PASSED!! HE MADE IT INTO UA'S HERO COURSE! AFLAWEFLWEFJ;OAWJ;FLESDFOHEGRLUKHLKF

Noiscardily: Are you okay?

MoldiBroccli: OMV THAT'S AMAZING!

Barbieisawhore: omv?

MoldiBroccli: Oh My Viridian. We are the Cult of Viridian, so that means he's our God.

Deku: What did I just walk in on? O_o

GayAFanimeBoi: My brother made it into UA!! He's gonna b a hero!! Tho he said he didn't see u there. :(

Deku: I think I saw him in the crowd, but I was too nervous to talk to him. *Shrug*

TheCakeisaLie: you still didn't tell us how you did, Deku??

Demonic-Gay-Microwave: Cake, he might not want to talk about it.

Deku: Actually... I... passed? Like, I still can hardly believe it. I made it into the Hero Course.

GayAFanimeBoi: HALUHAWIURHIUAH!!! CONGRATZ! U DID IT! You might b in the same class as my bro!! That'd b so cool!!

Deku: Huh? Cool?

Noiscardily: Deku, you realize that your hero analysis skills are top-notch, right? Like, ppl know u on the internet.

Deku: Whaa?!

TheCakeisaLie: I mean, with a Quirk like yours, I'm sure that you'll become a great hero! :D

Deku: ... Quirk?

Noiscardily: Sorry, Deku. We just all assumed you had some kind of analysis Quirk.

Deku: Actually... that's the thing... the reason I'm so shocked I made it into UA... is because I'm... erm... Quirkless.

Noiscardily: .... O.O What?!

Barbieisawhore: You're joking!!

Deku: Nope. Two pinky-toe-joints.

GayAFanimeBoi: So you're like, what, U.A.'s first Quirkless student? That's so MANLY!!

Deku: I mean, I think so? Idk how I managed to pass...

TheCakeisaLie: Remind me never to challenge you to a fight. Geez. You don't need a Quirk to kick ass apparently.

Deku: I've gtg. My fam and I are celebrating my success. :)

Noiscardily: Congrats!! Have fun!

TheCakeisaLie: And no worries, we don't care that you're Quirkless!

GayAFanimeBoi: Internet's great for finding friends that don't give a fuck. :)

Barbieisawhore: L A N G U A G E!

GayAFanimeBoi: Current language setting is Japanese with a dash of I-don't-give-a-fuck. :P

[Deku has logged out]

LineLineLineLineLineLineLineLineLineLineLineLine

Shouta sighed as he leapt across the rooftops with Viridian. It was about a week before the start of school, and he had about a million and a half things to do. Fortunately, patrols were a lot easier when you weren't going it alone.

He'd been patrolling with the vigilante nearly every night, now. The guy was pretty much healed, and his patrol route was never the same twice. He always found the most trouble, though. It was like Viridian had a built-in beacon for people who needed help.

And Shouta had noted that many of the people who called out for help in or near the South Side exclusively called for Viridian himself—like he was the only one who would heed their cries for help.

Either way, it'd been a rather busy night, and things were starting to calm down. The two of them stopped atop a roof for a breather. "Whatd'ya say to a quick cuppa Joe?" Viridian asked, tilting his head.

"Cup of Joe? Isn't that an old American saying?"

"From the 20th and 21st centuries, actually." He grinned. Not for the first time, the Hero wondered just who was beneath that mask. Or how old he was, at the very least.

"Coffee sounds good." He agreed. But then again, Shouta was always down for a cup of coffee.

The two of them landed on street level and went into the nearby Café. It was one of Shouta's regular haunts, and the barista recognized him immediately. "Ah, Eraserhead! Your usual?" He nodded as she rattled off his order to one of the other baristas who started his coffee. "And Ri! Long time no see! Your usual as well?" She asked the vigilante, and Shouta twitched internally. Mostly because Viridian was probably coming to Shouta's favorite coffee shop long before they teamed up. Right under my nose...

"You got it, Yuiko!" He smiled back at her and Shouta could swear he saw her blush.

Within minutes they were seated at a table with their drinks. It was nearly the end of their shift anyhow. There shouldn't be anything for the last 20 minutes unless some idiot decided that four in the morning was the perfect time to rampage (which, knowing Viridian's luck, was a very real possibility).

"Ah~ I haven't been here in weeks." Viridian sat back in his seat and pulled up his mask. Shouta had noticed that the man never spoke with his mask up. Was there...?

"Is that a voice disguiser?" He blinked in surprise at the tiny mechanical device stitched discreetly into the fabric of the mask. The vigilante gave him a fanged smirk as he pulled his mask back down.

"Yep." He chirped happily. "I could be a lot older or younger than you anticipated. Or I could be girl." His eyes crinkled with an amused grin. "Or this could be my real voice and I use the voice changer on my enemies?"

"I'm going to get another migraine if I try to get a straight answer out of you, aren't I?"

"Absolutely! But that's what the coffee is for."

"You're giving me grey hairs, Viridian."

"Please, your students do that for me."

"I don't have any students this year."

"Ah, but that'll change." He smiled.

"Unlikely." Shouta shook his head. He hadn't been overly impressed by too many of his prospective students this year—sans the kid with the explosion Quirk and the Quirkless wonder who'd hacked all the robots.

"Oh? That look on your face tells me otherwise. Care to share?"

"I'm not allowed to discuss my students with an outsider."

"Oh, Shouta! I'm hurt! I thought we were friends."

"I have no friends."

"Liar. I'm your friend. And so are Masa and Ken." He got the distinct impression that Viridian was sticking his tongue out at him.

"Come on, we've got ten minutes. We should at least finish the loop."

He wouldn't admit it, but he was starting to enjoy Viridian's crazy patrol 'route.' As mentioned earlier, it was never really the same twice, but it typically took them through the South Side and then halfway across town. The pattern was seemingly random, but it seemed that they always found the most trouble.

At first, he'd been wary of patrolling the South Side. There were awful rumors of that place, and many doubted that people lived there at all. The conditions were terrible too. Heroes and villains alike avoided the place like the plague—even police typically ignored it.

It used to be the original Musutafu before the city started expanding, but a major earthquake decades ago made it into a ghost town. Now, the South Side had become a lawless area. Well, it was lawless until the vigilante showed up. It seemed Viridian's presence was doing the place a lot of good.

Now Shouta patrolled the area even without the vigilante. The whole point of heroism was to help people, after all. Though if he kept his phone a little closer at hand on those nights, he'd never tell anyone. The stigma was there for a reason, after all.

"Fine, fine. Workaholic." The Vigilante pushed in his chair and tidied up the table before joining the impatient hero.

"You do realize that cleaning up the tables is part of their job, right?"

Viridian twitched. Had Shouta hit a nerve?

"And do you have any idea how irritating it is when people don't clean up after themselves? I've worked in restaurants before. Yeah, it's part of the job, but it shouldn't have to be. We've got about a million other tasks to take care of aside from cleaning tables and making orders, you know. Detail cleaning, dishes, making more food, temping everything, cleaning the floors, stocking the utensils and napkins, refilling condiment bottles, cleaning Crathcos and soda fountains, refilling sinks, cleaning drains, cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping outside, trash, windows, counting the registers and the safe, answering the phone, getting orders out on time, paperwork, bank runs, more restocking..." Viridian grew more and more irritated with each task he listed off. "And then this bitch calls, 'Oh, my order wasn't made right, and I tried calling sixteen times but nobody picked up.' And what the hell are you supposed to say?! 'Sorry, we had a rush with a line out the door and three people on staff with a last-minute callout so nobody was available to take the phone?!' And then of course there's that one family who lets their kid make an absolute warzone out of the food you made them, and then they don't even bother to tell you about it so you can clean it up without having to slave on your knees on tile with a bottle of bleach!"

For a long moment, Shouta just stared at Viridian as the vigilante panted. "Are you okay?"

"No. Nobody who works in the food industry is okay." He shook his head.

"R-right..." Okay, so that was one landmine Shouta never wanted to step on again. "So you hold a job outside the vigilante business?"

"Unlike pros, we don't get paid for what we do." Viridian replied, visibly calmer than before. "But no—I'm unemployed right now. I did hold a few different jobs when I was younger, but I've decided to dedicate myself to protecting people."

"Admirable, but how do you pay your bills?"

The other man snorted. "What bills?" He held up his flip phone. "This baby doesn't cost me a yen." He grinned, but didn't elaborate further.

"Please tell me that you've got a stable roof over your head?" Shouta's stomach was sinking quickly. Was Viridian homeless?!

"I do have a stable roof over my head. It leaks a little, but I've fixed it up."

"Why does this not make me feel better?" He was about to say more when Viridian suddenly stopped. They'd been walking through an alleyway and Shouta couldn't see anything that would tip the other man off to something being wrong. But he'd learned a while back to trust the vigilante's gut.

Suddenly, laughter echoed around the alley. "So we meet again, Viridian. And who's your friend?"

"Nobody you need to worry about." Viridian answered confidently back, but Shouta could see the tensing of his muscles.

"Someone you know?" Shouta loosened his Capture Weapon.

"You could say that."

"I still haven't forgiven you for what you did to me." The voice—which Shouta now recognized as distinctly feminine—held a hard edge.

"Aw, don't hold it against me?" Viridian shrugged half-heartedly. "It was nothing personal, you understand. You're just not my type."

"YOU BROKE MY HEART!"

"Are you serious?" Shouta gave the vigilante an incredulous look. "She's your ex?"

"Not really, I mean, she confessed to me, and I turned her down."

"I GAVE YOU MY HEART! And you THREW IT AWAY!! You never even gave me the chance!! I've idolized you from the moment you first started fighting crime! Viridian! Why won't you love me!?"

"Because I'm gay, sweetie." Viridian was slowly backing them out of the alleyway, but his answer made Shouta startle a bit. He hadn't expected the vigilante to just come out and say something like that so plainly.

"Then I'll make you love me, or you'll die."

Okay, not a jealous ex, but a crazy stalker. Noted. Shouta wondered if the vigilante dealt with this kind of shit often.

The woman leapt out of the shadows; her bright red hair gleaming in the moonlight. Her hair stiffened into blades for an instant as she threw them out like spears towards Viridian. Shouta activated his Quirk, erasing hers.

"What the?!"

Viridian didn't let their advantage go to waste as he kicked her hard, throwing her back against the wall.

She quickly recovered, and threw down a smoke screen, obstructing Shouta's vision. Damnit.

"I know you... You're Eraserhead. You can erase Quirks just by looking at someone. Impressive—but useless in low-visibility environments against a long-range fighter." She paused a moment. "So... you're his boyfriend, then?"

Shouta and Viridian both choked on their spit. "He's like a brother to me!" Viridian protested.

"He's a coworker." Shouta protested at the same time. Brother? He mentally questioned the vigilante, but had to dodge out of the way of the woman's hair spears. One scratched his cheek, and he winced.

"You okay?" Viridian asked as the two pressed their backs together.

"Just a scratch." Shouta assured him.

"Good. Then you won't mind if I do this!" A moment later, Shouta was in the air above the alleyway, being dragged along by Viridian.

The two landed atop the roof, and took off running. "Trust me, she's not someone to fight alone. There's a reason why I avoid her." Viridian said as they finally lost her.

Shouta opened his mouth to say something, when Viridian gasped in pain. He whipped around sharply to see him crouched on the rooftop, hand clutching his side which was bleeding profusely.

"Viridian!" Shouta was by his side immediately, assessing the injury. It was deep, and would undoubtedly need stitches.

"I'm fine." The vigilante panted. "Just a scratch."

"Just a..." Shouta shook his head in disbelief. "I'm taking you to a hospital." He moved to scoop up the injured man, who staggered to his feet.

"Nope. Sorry, Shouta. No-can-do. Hospitals and I don't mix."

"I don't care if you mix or not, you need medical attention. I can call Recovery Girl, if you don't want to go to a hospital."

"And I'll get medical attention. At home." He smirked as he leaned backwards off the edge of the roof. "See ya later, Eraserhead~!"

Shouta ran to the edge of the building, but found no trace of the vigilante. "Damnit. He's just too good at disappearing." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "You'd better be okay."

LetMeSleep: Guys, Viridian's hurt again.

Fury: What happened?!

LetMeSleep: We ran into some crazy stalker of his who attacked us. When we got away—Viridian dragged me away from the fight—I realized he had a deep gash on his left side. He was losing a lot of blood.

Fury: Bring him to the hospital; we'll meet you there.

LetMeSleep: Would if I could, but he ran off.

Tsuragamae: Again?

Fury: Why does he always run off when he's hurt?

LetMeSleep: He said 'Hospitals and I don't mix' and then jumped off the side of the building. No sign of him. He's just too damn good at covering his tracks.

Fury: @ViridianChaos you'd better be okay. Let us know you're at least alive.

Tsuragamae: Whelp. Here's to another sleepless night.

Well,thatshitwasn'treallyplanned,butokay.Whateverworks.IwantedhimtobehurtbecauseitwouldtipAizawaoffalittlebit.Makehimthink.Givehimhints...

Viridian stumbled into the clearing of his home. He was losing a lot of blood, and shit wasn't looking good. Honestly, shit was looking kind of fuzzy and unfocused.

"Izuku!" Keigo rushed to his side.

"Kei? What're you doing here?"

"Bad feeling. Glad I came." He scooped up the injured vigilante and carried him inside. Keigo wasted no time in clearing the table and getting out the supplies needed. "Shit, why do you always do this to me?"

"I can stitch myself up." Izuku protested.

"Nope. What kind of brother would I be if I let you do this yourself?" He shook his head and started to get to work. "Jeez, and just a week before your first day at U.A., too. Won't Aizawa be suspicious?"

"Probably." Izuku winced as Keigo pulled the stitches a little too tightly.

"Sorry."

"No apologies for saving my life."

"Fine." Keigo was going to say something else, but Izuku was well on his way to passing out. "Damnit. Wake up at a decent hour, tomorrow, would ya?"

"Thanks, Kei."

"Anytime, Zu."